How to shoot the starry sky with nikon d3100. How to photograph stars and meteors

In modern Russian-language magazines and books on photography you can find thousands of articles about landscape, portrait, animalistic, reportage, genre and other types of photography.

It seems like everything has already been written. It's hard to even think of what could be added to all this. But if we take a closer look, we will see that all these countless volumes of advice and instructions mostly relate to shooting only during the daytime and, in rare cases, in the evening.

Almost not a word is said about night photography, but the dark time of the day occupies at least a third of the entire length of the day. Some may argue that at night nothing is visible, there is no light and the art of light painting loses its power and relevance.

With this article I will try to refute this stereotype and show that night photography can be no less interesting and productive than other genres of photography.

The first and main problem that a photographer faces when shooting at night is the insufficient amount of light. And if in painting the artist draws with paints, then in photography the basis for everything is light.

And, unlike regular photography, at night the photographer has to collect light bit by bit, cherishing every photon as if it were a treasure. There is something mysterious, even mystical in some way, in all of this.

It is important that in such conditions you very quickly learn to appreciate and feel light, after which working in daylight no longer seems so difficult and at times not even so interesting and exciting.

Choosing photographic equipment

Before moving directly to questions related to photography, let's decide what equipment we should take with us on a night photo hunt.

Camera

Since at night you have to work almost at the limit of the capabilities of modern digital cameras, it is advisable to use the most modern technology, which will allow you to obtain photographs of the highest possible quality.

When choosing a camera, you should give preference to full-format top models from leading manufacturers of the photo market (Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III, Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Nikon D3x/s, Nikon D700, etc.), which provide a relatively low-noise picture at high sensitivity values ​​(ISO ) and/or long exposures (shutter speeds).

Of course, this doesn't mean that other cameras are unsuitable for night photography. Not at all. It’s just that more advanced and modern models provide more opportunities for flexible and high-quality shooting, and they are also well protected from a variety of adverse weather conditions that are often associated with night photography.

Lenses

All of the above about choosing a camera can also be applied to lenses. It is advisable to use top-end lens models that can provide maximum resolution at open apertures.

The faster the optics you choose, the easier it will be for the camera to focus and the easier it will be for you to compose the desired shot, since the brightness of the image you see in the viewfinder of your camera directly depends on the aperture of the lens used. But a fast lens is also not a panacea.

Many budget models with relatively fast lenses have a lot of blur at the edges of the frame. This is another reason why you should give preference to more expensive models that allow you to get a sharp picture even at almost fully open apertures.

In addition, it is important to note that most often and best scenes with a starry sky, circular star tracks and the Milky Way are obtained when using wide-angle lenses.

An excellent means of self-expression in astrophotography is also ultra-wide-angle optics with a field of view close to 180 degrees. These are the so-called fish-eye lenses, which in astronomy are usually called all-sky lenses (all-sky lenses).

With such a field of view, you can easily capture almost the entire starry sky in the frame. Just remember that such lenses have strong distortion (geometric distortion), so always keep an eye on the horizon line and vertical lines at the edges of the frame.

As for my personal experience, I extremely rarely use zoom lenses and lenses with a focal length of more than 50 mm, since as the focal length increases, the density and, accordingly, the number of visible stars in the frame decreases, and star trails become larger at long exposures approach boring straight lines.

Specifically, for the Canon system I would recommend the following lens models: Canon EF 14mm f/2.8 L USM, Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye, Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 L II USM, Canon EF 35mm f/1.4 L, Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 L USM. Although, you need to understand that you can use absolutely any optics. The main thing is to have good imagination, stubbornness and a true desire to achieve the expected result.

Tripod

A tripod, it’s a tripod in Africa too, so there are no special requirements for it. It just needs to be stable and able to support the weight of your camera equipment.

It is highly recommended to use tripods made of composite materials, which, among other things, very well dampen vibrations that come from the ground and are relatively light in weight, which is very critical during long trips, especially in mountainous regions.

It would also be useful to have a hook on the central rod, on which you can hook up a photo backpack or some other load for greater stability of the tripod.

Remember that vibrations that can ruin your shot can be caused by passing cars, people walking, or wind. Therefore, try to choose a location for shooting in a quiet, windless place, away from roads and trails. Well, if you want to warm up or jump/squat to warm up, better move to the side, away from the tripod.

It’s good if there is a level on your tripod head with which you can level your camera horizontally, since at night it is often not possible to determine the position of the horizon “by eye” the first time. If your tripod head does not have a level, then you can buy a level that is placed in the flash shoe. You will need such a device in the future, especially when shooting panoramas 😉

Flash

Some photographers use off-camera flash/flash units to highlight the foreground. Sometimes this gives very interesting results. So you can experiment if you wish.

I don’t practice this, because I really appreciate natural night lighting, which seems to me more alive, plastic and somewhat mystical.

Power supply elements

Photographing night scenes always involves long exposures, multiple takes, and an insane number of shots when shooting in time lapse mode.

Often one night photo session, smoothly turning into dawn photography, can reach 7-9 hours. Moreover, in the vast majority of cases, in conditions that are not at all favorable for the camera (cold, snow, wind, etc.).

Therefore, I strongly advise you to stock up on a fair amount of fully charged batteries before going out on a night photo hunt. Sometimes it happens that during an extremely long exposure or time lapse shooting, at the most inopportune moment, the battery is discharged, and even an ultra-quick replacement will not save your shot.

To avoid such cases, you can resort to using a battery grip, which will at least double the operating time of your camera on one set of batteries.

Spare batteries should always be kept in a warm, dry place, somewhere in the bosom, closer to the body. For example, on mountain treks I always sleep in a sleeping bag along with all the batteries from 2 cameras, not to mention the fact that I always carry them in the breast pocket of my down vest. As they say, I keep everything that is most precious to my heart.

Programmable cable release (PST)

If not mandatory, then highly recommended when shooting at night is the presence of such a specific photographic accessory as a programmable cable release. It is very difficult to overestimate its importance in this genre of photography. So, let's figure out how it can be useful to us...

• Allows you to take photographs without direct contact with the camera, which reduces the likelihood of movement in the frame (but this can also be avoided by using an in-camera function of the camera such as a shutter timer or a simple cable/remote control);
• Allows you to shoot in bulb mode. You simply hold down the button on the cable at the beginning of the exposure and release it when you want to finish exposing the frame. This way you can set an almost infinite shutter speed, which is limited only by the charge of your battery. The only downside of this method is that you will have to constantly monitor the exposure time so as not to miss the moment when you need to close the shutter curtain. Of course, you can simply press the shutter button of your camera with your finger, but then you will probably be guaranteed to move in the frame;
• Allows you to set a programmable shutter speed, in which you set the desired exposure period of the frame in advance (up to 100 hours in 1 second increments);
• Allows you to take time-lapse photography with a specified number of pictures in a series, at any interval from 1 sec and with any exposure pair you have programmed (both in fully manual and semi-automatic mode). This is probably the most important function of this device, which allows you to take pictures of starry stars tracks with absolutely any exposure duration, without losing anything in quality. In addition, using this PST function, you will be able to shoot a series of time lapse images, from which you can then edit a video with the rapid movement of the starry sky, the Milky Way, the blooming of flowers, the growth of mushrooms, the movement of clouds, people, the construction of some objects, or anything at all;

• Allows you to set the shutter release timer from 1 sec to 100 hours (in-camera capabilities are limited to 10-12 sec). How can this be useful and how can you use this function when shooting at night? It’s very simple. For example, you want to take a photo of the Milky Way over the surrounding landscape, but you are very tired and do not want to get up in the middle of the night to shoot this scene.

  Then you put the camera on a tripod, adjust to the landscape you want, focus, set the necessary parameters for the exposure pair (again in manual or semi-automatic mode) and set the timer for the time at which, according to your preliminary calculations, the Milky Way will pass in the place you want , start the timer and go to bed. And in the morning you wake up, voila, and discover that the camera has already left a trace of a beautiful night shot on your card.

You cannot replace the last 3 functions of the PST with anything, except perhaps a hired slave who will sit all night long with a stopwatch in his hands and work out hundreds of exposures with an interval of 1 second)) and will get up at midnight to take the picture you have in mind :)

Useful little things

• Flashlight— helps to get to the intended shooting location in the dark; sometimes they can be used to highlight a close-up object to help the camera focus on it;
• Compass- helps literally in a matter of seconds determine the cardinal directions, find the poles of the world and, coming out of this, even before dark, plan the future composition of the frame;
• Mobile phone/PDA/iPad/laptop- useful as an entertainment device that will help while away long nights with a camera programmed to shoot for many hours (player, all kinds of games, e-books, films, etc.). In addition, you may need a calculator function to calculate the duration of exposures, number of frames, etc.;
• Backlit clock— help not to get lost in time and calculate the shooting period;
• Food- be sure to bring some food with you, some nuts, dried fruits, seeds, perhaps chocolate bars, cookies. This will at least slightly diversify your nights, help keep your body in an active state of wakefulness and keep you warm on cold nights, otherwise without food it becomes somehow even colder;
• Beverages- Bring water/juice with you. It would also be a good idea to take a thermos with hot tea/coffee. Hot drinks are especially helpful when filming in winter and in the mountains, where it is simply unthinkable to sit up all night without them;
• Warm clothes- even in the lower reaches, in the warm season the nights are always cooler than the day, so take some spare jacket or windbreaker with you. If you are going to shoot in the high mountains and/or in the cold season, then you need to take your choice of clothing more seriously. In such cases, you don’t need to take it off, but put it on! More warm clothes. Don't forget about warm woolen socks and two pairs of gloves - one thin, in which you can work with the camera, others thick, worn over thin ones. Fingers freeze instantly;

• Optical cleaning kit. It is clear that before shooting, all optics must be thoroughly cleaned and “rubbed” to a crystal shine. But in addition, at night, abundant moisture (condensation, dew) may settle on the camera due to temperature changes. In this case, the front lens of the lens first becomes covered with barely noticeable droplets, and then completely loses its transparency. It is good, if you manage to notice this phenomenon in time, to wipe the camera and lens. As a rule, shutter speeds are so long that you cannot be sure that there will be no condensation on the front lens until the end of the exposure, when it becomes possible to examine it in the light of a flashlight. In this case, you can regularly check for moisture on the camera and, if necessary, gently wipe the surface of the lens (or filter);
• Protective (insulated) all-weather camera case— used to protect the camera from all sorts of vagaries of nature, such as rain, snow, frost, condensation;
• Gradient filters- sometimes (especially on moonless nights) they help to even out the difference in brightness between the bright starry sky and the dark surrounding landscape;
• Atlas of the starry sky- a wonderful companion and guide in our visible Universe. With his help, I discovered a new incredibly interesting and fascinating world of astronomy;
• Schedule times and places of moon and sun rises/sets for the entire period of your trip

Shooting conditions

When photographing stars, the most important criterion is the transparency of the sky, which depends on several factors:

• Height above sea level- the higher you climb into the mountains, the thinner and more transparent the layer of atmosphere above you will be and the clearer the starry sky will be;
• Filming location relative to the earth's equator - the closer to the equator, the more transparent the sky;
• Presence of haze in the air— it is best to shoot immediately after heavy rainfall, when all the dust and haze that was previously in the air settles for a while;
• Presence of sources of air illumination- choose places away from populated areas, roads and any other places where light sources may appear. Otherwise, instead of the stars, you will photograph the air illuminated by the city. Moreover, you should not assume that if there are no light sources in the frame, then you are saved. The air pollution from the same city is visible tens of kilometers away, from places where, it would seem, there is no longer any hint of cars or street lights;
• Presence of clouds- even thin clouds, barely visible to the eye, in the picture turn into large opaque monsters, covering the stars. Therefore, try to choose clear nights for filming;
• Another factor The presence/absence and intensity of the Moon's light, depending on its position in the 29.5 day cycle of waxing and waning, greatly influences the visibility of stars. The Moon is a powerful source of light that illuminates the air (even when it is not in the frame!). Therefore, if you want to capture all the beauty of the starry sky, it is advisable to shoot on a new moon or when the Moon is not in the sky at all. But don’t be afraid and avoid the Moon; it itself is also a very picturesque subject for photography, but this will be written about a little later.

Focusing

In order to “win” more light when shooting at night, relatively open apertures are most often used, at which the depth of field (depth of field) decreases significantly.

Therefore, it is best to choose scenes in which all plans are at a sufficiently distant distance from the camera and correspond to infinity on the focus scale of your lens.

A bright object that can be seen in the distance can help you autofocus “on the stars.”

This could be the Moon, light in the window of some distant house, a bright star, snowy peaks illuminated by moonlight, a street lamp, etc. As a last resort, you can ask a friend to run a few tens of meters with the phone turned on and focus on it.

If you need to focus on the close-up, then a flash or flashlight can help you out. But, unfortunately, not all lenses are perfectly adjusted and can produce a perfectly sharp image at open apertures in atom focus mode. Therefore, I strongly advise you to immediately get used to manual focusing.

It is advisable to have a focus scale on the lens and focus on it manually. But since at night it is very difficult to hit the target “by eye”, it is better to take several test shots until you achieve the ideal result. Also, manual focusing on the screen in LiveView mode turned out to be very effective and accurate, where the desired area of ​​the image can be magnified 10 times! So I recommend it 😉

Composition

It’s worth getting into the habit of finding suitable subjects and shooting points for night photography in advance, during the day. This will be much more difficult to do at night. Next, you wait for a night with a clear moonless sky, and go to the previously found place.

The stars should not be the main subject, they should just harmoniously complement the composition.

To make the photo less abstract, you can include some easily recognizable silhouette in the frame - a separate tree, building, nearby mountain peaks, etc.

The Milky Way is the largest and most colorful object in the night sky.

It perfectly conveys all the Greatness and Infinity of our Universe. In order to further emphasize this, you can, for comparison, include in the composition a person or something related to him and his activities (a house, a tent, a fire with people sitting around, etc. Show all your imagination here). Dark, moonless nights are best for photographing the Milky Way.

"One fifth of humanity no longer sees the Milky Way" — phrase from National Geographic

At night there is also its own “Sun” - this is the Moon. It may sound strange, but lunar sunrises and sunsets can be no less spectacular and colorful than those of its daytime counterpart.

If we talk about moonlight, then all the same laws and rules apply here as during daylight hours.

Post-sunrise and pre-sunset moonlight are ideal for photography. The light at this time is very soft, voluminous, and colors the surrounding landscapes in warm (sometimes even reddish) tones.

The time when the Moon (especially the full one) is high above the horizon at its so-called zenith is of little use for photography, since the light under such conditions is very hard, flat, without color (like from fluorescent lamps, brr) + flare The air at this time is at its maximum due to which the stars are practically invisible.

It is also worth noting that scenes with the reflection of the starry sky (star tracks) on the surface of some body of water turn out to be very interesting. In such cases, it is often better to choose a very low shooting point and photograph almost from water level. Thus, even a small puddle or a small pond can be “transformed” into a boundless ocean.

Nepal, Annapurna Base Camp (4150 m) and Machapuchre (6997 m), 2011 | 44 min (86 frames x 30 sec), f/4, ISO 1250, AF 15 mm, full moon (Canon EOS 5D Mark II + Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye)

Also very interesting are night shots with raging rivers/waterfalls, which, with a long shutter speed, turn into milky streams and in this form go very well with the starry sky.

In some cases, the images reveal strange traces and stripes, the trajectory of which differs from the trajectory of the stars. Some photographers tend to give such phenomena a mystical character. However, such phenomena are explained by aircraft, satellites and/or bright meteors entering the frame, which burn up in the earth's atmosphere. Meteor trails like these can beautifully decorate your shot.

If you want to capture such a phenomenon, then first of all find out when meteor showers occur. Having determined the maximum period, choose a place where there is no illumination from street lamps, windows and other light sources (preferably away from populated areas).

The Perseids shower, which peaks on August 11-12, is an ideal place to start. Firstly, it is rich in bright meteors - fireballs, and secondly, in August there are dark and warm nights that are convenient for work. Pay attention to what phase and where the Moon is located. It is important that its light does not interfere with photography.

In addition to all of the above, you can build your photo based on the constellations as the center of your composition. A star atlas will help you find and identify constellations 😉

Before you start composing your shot through your camera's viewfinder, give your eyes a few minutes of rest in complete darkness to allow them to adjust to the ambient light.

If even after such a “ritual” you cannot see anything in the viewfinder, then try pointing the camera “by eye”. Then take a test shot at extreme settings (aperture open, ISO at maximum) and based on it, adjust the camera position. Repeat the last step until you achieve what you think is the ideal composition.

That's it, now you are ready to start shooting the stars! 😉

Shooting the starry sky has become very popular and since we are talking about shooting at long exposures, let's talk about shooting the starry sky.

Here are a couple of tools and tips for shooting starry skies and star trails. Don't forget that you will need a lot of time to shoot. To photograph the starry sky, the night must be clear, dark and cloudless. Moonlight is not good for shooting stars. A large number of stars can be seen in particularly dark places where there is no light pollution from the city or street lighting. In such places you can even see the Milky Way in the night sky. By the way, during our photo tours to Spain, you will be in such a place. We will live in a real Andalusian house (finca) in a nature reserve, surrounded by almond trees and flowers. Near the house you can see hares, lizards, eagles and other birds and animals. There are no towns or villages around the house within a few kilometers. Therefore, from the roof of the house or from the terrace you can shoot a star trek with almond trees in the foreground.

polar Star

The North Star is located at the point in the direction of the imaginary axis around which the Earth rotates. If you include the North Star in a photo, you will have a fixed point in the sky around which all the other stars will revolve. In order to capture beautiful star trails, you need to know roughly where everything is in the sky. You don't need to know every constellation in the sky, but understanding where the important stars or constellations for your photography are is very helpful.

The North Star can be found very easily in the night sky. It - as we have already written - is located at the point in the direction of the imaginary axis around which the Earth rotates, passing through the North Pole. Contrary to many claims, Polaris is not the brightest star in the night sky. This is a fairly inconspicuous star, but with a few tricks it can be easily found in the sky.

Even if you don't know anything about the stars, you can easily find the constellation Ursa Major. The North Star is next to him. Mentally extend the imaginary line of the front of the Big Dipper 5 times, and you will see the polar star located in the constellation Ursa Minor.

You can quickly and easily find the North Star using applications for your iPhone or smartphone, such as Google Sky Maps. There you can get information such as names of stars, planets, direction of the North Pole, etc. If you place the polar star somewhere in your photo, it will be the core of all the surrounding stars.

Preparation

If you arrive on location in the dark, you will need some time for your eyes to adjust to the lighting conditions. If the sky is clear, then you will quickly see a huge number of stars. Especially in mountainous areas, the sight of the starry sky takes your breath away. Set up a tripod, select the shooting direction and foreground. Depending on the shooting direction, you will have different shapes of star tracks. From the side of the polar star, round tracks will be obtained; when shooting to the south, the tracks will be more likely to be straight.

Lens

When shooting with wide-angle lenses, even with a shutter speed of about 40 seconds, you still won't see any star trails. And you will see them if you shoot with a telephoto lens.

Excerpt

Even with a shutter speed of 30 seconds, short trails of stars can be visible in the photograph. If you want to get interesting, impressive shots of star trails, your shutter speed should be much longer. The stars move very slowly across the sky (more precisely, the Earth rotates slowly), so plan on shooting one motif for at least 2 hours. It is better, of course, to have even more time for each motive. The longer you shoot in one place, the more impressive the star trails look in the photo.

Star Treks can be shot with multi-minute/multi-hour exposures, or can be created from multiple exposures. When shooting with a 2 hour exposure, the disadvantage is that it is almost impossible to evaluate the result in advance. Often the photo turns out too bright and noisy. Therefore, it makes sense to take several pictures and combine them either in Photoshop, or using, for example, the program Startrails.de

In order to correctly determine the shutter speed, you can use the calculator that we talked about yesterday.

Camera settings

The camera settings for this type of photography are quite simple. Aperture to suit your creative needs (typically f8 to f11). ISO no more than 100, otherwise the pictures will be very noisy.

Exposure time is 5-10 minutes, preferably 15 minutes for individual shots. You can easily calculate how many shots will be needed to shoot for about 3 hours.

You can use a programmable remote control where you can set the number of shots and the shooting interval. Press the start button once and then wait until everything is over.

Focus

In complete darkness, it is often difficult to find a suitable focus point. Focus on some distant light point or use a flashlight (i.e. create a focus point yourself using a flashlight). Once you have found the focus point, be sure to turn off autofocus, otherwise the camera will again try to focus on the black sky.

If you can't find the focus point, set the focus manually to infinity. However, remember that many lenses do not have a sharp range of infinity, so for optimal sharpness, go back to 1-2mm.

Equipment

Camera with the ability to set manual settings and function"Bulb"
Tripod
Remote control

Photographing star trails takes time and patience. If you do everything right, you will be rewarded with excellent results.

Here are some photos by Australian photographer Lincoln Harrison for inspiration:

It is easy for a modern photographer to find information about almost any type of photography: reportage, portrait, genre and many others. Not only foreign, but also Russian-language sources are full of articles on these topics. And it would seem that everything has been told and shown a long time ago, and it is impossible to imagine a previously unexplored area. But, summarizing frequently encountered materials, it is easy to notice a similar feature - they all relate to photography at any time of the day, but not at night, not a line is written about this. Contrary to the belief that nothing is visible at night and the art of photography loses all essence, this article aims to radically change these subjective ideas and show that night photography is also interesting, full of bright colors, full of scope for creativity and imagination.

The lack of natural light is the main problem that a photographer will have to face when working at night. In the dark, the photographer must catch the smallest glimpse, every photon of light, collect the smallest grains into the overall picture. It’s a rather labor-intensive process, but that’s where it’s fun. After working with night photography, daytime photography will certainly seem simpler and, perhaps, not so interesting.

The first step is the right equipment

As in any task that a master undertakes, for high-quality photography, first of all, you need to choose the right tool for the job.

Camera

When choosing a camera model, you can trust the world's leading manufacturers, for example, Nikon D3x/s, Nikon D700, Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III, etc. Such devices can produce low-noise images in combination with high light sensitivity (ISO) and long shutter speeds.

Colter Bay, Wyoming, US

Photo lens

The best resolution is typical for the lenses of the world leaders in the photo market. Better focusing is characteristic of cameras with faster optics; accordingly, it will be easier to achieve the desired layout, since the brightness of the image colors in the viewfinder directly depends on this characteristic of the device.

Note also that photographs of the starry sky with all its components are qualitatively better using devices that use a wide-angle lens. Ultra-wide-angle lenses with a viewing angle of up to 180 degrees will help photographers working with astrophotography to express themselves even better.

For Canon cameras, it is better to use the Canon EF 14mm f/2.8 L USM, Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 L USM, Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 L II USM or Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye lenses. It should also be taken into account that no matter what optics is used, the main thing is the skill of the photographer, his vision and sense of beauty, inspiration and desire to get an excellent result.

Tripod

It is a completely ordinary element that does not require special quality characteristics; its main property is stability, which is also associated with the damping of the slightest vibrations.

It doesn’t hurt to have a level on the tripod to level the horizon, because this is not so easy to do at night. If a level is not included with the tripod, it is better to buy it separately. For example, the one that is placed in the flash shoe.

Photoflash

You can use a flash, or even several, to light up the foreground. But this is not at all necessary, it depends on the desire of the photographer. Natural night lighting is also quite enough, which makes the photo real, alive and a little mysterious, like in a fairy tale.

Pentax K10D| Pentax SMC DA 18-55/F3.5-F5.6 AL, 18mm |f/3.5|550 sec.|ISO 400|Tripod

Nutrition

Night work differs in its duration. Therefore, high-quality equipment may turn out to be completely useless if it has nothing to feed on. There should always be a supply of batteries so that “trifles” do not spoil the whole process. The battery handle will help to almost double the operating time of the equipment. Those batteries that are waiting their turn are best stored in a dry and warm place.

Programmable cable release (PST)

In the type of photography under discussion, this non-standard accessory is very important:

· makes it possible to take photographs without direct contact with the device, which will significantly reduce vibration;

· shooting in “bulb” mode;

· the shutter speed can be programmed by setting the desired exposure time from seconds to tens of hours;

· serial shooting at a specified interval is also possible - a very important function of this device. This also allows you to make a video from a series of pictures, which will clearly show the movement of clouds, the change of day and night, or the movement of the starry sky;

· setting the shutter timer from seconds to hundreds of hours will allow the photographer to rest peacefully while the camera waits for the right moment.

The last three PST functions listed above cannot be replaced by any other device.

On a note

· When going out on a night photo hunt, take a flashlight. It will help you stay on track, if something happens, highlight the equipment and help the device focus on the foreground.

· A compass in combination with a star map will help you navigate and find the necessary objects.

· Entertainment devices such as a telephone, radio, tablet, etc. will not interfere. You often have to wait for hours for the appearance of some objects in the starry sky, but this should not spoil the photographer’s mood and, even more so, put him into sleep.

· Warm drinks and food are an integral component that will help you maintain strength during long nights and warm you up.

· It is always colder at night than during the day. Therefore, it would be completely inappropriate to pack up your equipment and go home in the midst of events, only because the cold has penetrated to your bones. It is necessary to stock up on warm clothes.

· You should constantly inspect the device using a flashlight for dirt and wipe it.

· A warm, waterproof camera case will protect you from frost and rain.

· It is necessary to clarify in advance the exact time of appearance of certain objects in the sky.

Grovont, Wyoming, US

Conditions for photography

One of the main conditions is the transparency of the starry sky. It is influenced by:

· Height above sea level. The thinner the layer of atmosphere overhead, the more transparent it is. That is, as you go up the mountain, the pictures will get better.

· Proximity to the equator has a positive effect on transparency.

· Time after precipitation: rain “beats” dust to the ground, so it’s good to photograph immediately after it ends.

· Availability of artificial lighting. Lanterns or, for example, light from windows reduce transparency.

· Even barely noticeable clouds have a negative effect on the result.

· Don't forget about such an important light source as the Moon. There is no need to avoid it, because this is also an interesting subject for shooting, but if the details of the starry sky are important, then it is better to work when the Moon is young or during its absence.

Focusing

At night, open apertures are often used to “capture” as much light as possible. It is more advisable to choose compositions in which all plans are sufficiently distant from the photographic lens and equal to infinity on the focus scale.

You can also use autofocus, but this requires a light source in the distance, which could well be the Moon or even mountain peaks covered with white snow that reflects the light. When it comes to focusing close-up, a flashlight will do just fine. LiveView mode allows you to enlarge the required areas of the image when focusing tens of times.

Composition

Stars, most often, are an addition to such objects as mountains, rivers, forests, etc., a connecting link, a wonderful touch to the overall picture, but not the main subject of photography.

The favorite subject of night photographers is the Milky Way. By itself, it is not particularly interesting, but in combination with a house on the edge, a tree or a silhouette of a person, it shows the power of the Universe and the endless space.

Utah, US.

The rules for using moonlight are the same as daylight, the light is just subtler and deeper. The exception is the situation when the Moon is at its zenith, then the light is harsh and unpleasant, creating the feeling of artificial light from a lamp.

Often so-called “unidentified flying objects” can enter the frame. All over the world they are attributed a fantastic character, although in fact they are of terrestrial nature and are satellites, airplanes, etc. If you're lucky, you can capture the beautiful tail of a passing comet or the track of a meteor falling and burning in the atmosphere. For such “luck”, it is best to find out in advance what time of year and under what conditions these natural phenomena are observed, with what frequency and in what part of the world.

If you wish, you can use a star atlas and make certain constellations the center of the composition, without even involving extraneous objects. The pictures will also turn out interesting.

We have outlined an approximate composition, then we need to see how it will look through the camera viewfinder. Before this, it is better to “adjust” your eyes - let them get used to complete darkness, otherwise you will not see anything through the device.

In the genre of night photography of stars, two main approaches can be distinguished:

1. Photographing celestial bodies (star clusters, galaxies, nebulae, etc.) as such in their static version, that is, the photograph will depict stars as the human eye sees them in ordinary life.

2. Photographing star tracks is the process of photographing at very long shutter speeds, resulting in a photo of the movement (trajectories) of stars along the slope of the sky around both poles of the Earth.

To work with the first option, you can get acquainted with such a device as a parallax mount with the ability to guide. It is used for astrophotography. One of the axes of such a mount is installed at the same parallel with the world axis, directed to the North Pole of the Earth.

First of all, let's get acquainted with a simple rule called the “600” rule. Its essence is as follows: when you divide 600 by the focal length of the lens, you get the maximum shutter speed at which the stars will look like ordinary dots, and not the slightest movement will be noticeable.

United States, Colorado

Nikon D300|f/1.8|8 sec.| ISO 1600 | Tripod

Taking into account the described rule, the open aperture is set to the maximum (but so that the image quality does not suffer), then the photosensitivity value is selected.

Let's focus on shooting tracks. As mentioned earlier, this type of photography requires a long shutter speed (from at least ten minutes to several hours). Accordingly, the longer the shutter speed, the longer the trajectories will be in the photo, since the object will have time to travel a greater distance. The exact value of the exposure time and the correspondence of this time to the length of the tracks does not obey the rules. Here it is better to rely on your own experience, observations and samples.

Nikon D7000| NIKKOR 10-24, 10 mm|f/3.5|19800 sec.| ISO/Film 2000|Tripod

Photo: Lincoln Harrison

There are several methods for such shooting:

1. “one frame”

2. a series of photographs that are then composed on a computer

The choice of method is very individual. To make a more precise decision, let’s highlight the pros and cons of these two options.

In the first case (“one frame”) the disadvantages are:

· the presence of digital noise, even on the latest devices (the longer the shutter speed, the greater it is);

· high risk of vibration;

· the danger of overexposing or underexposing a photo, since it is difficult to correctly calculate the appropriate exposure pair of light and shadow;

· the appearance over time of a large number of interferences on the lens (dust, fogging, etc.).

Pros of burst shooting:

· for frames with low shutter speeds it is easier to calculate exposure pairs;

· underexposure is impossible, as is overexposure;

· when composing frames, damaged or low-quality frames are simply not taken;

· the length of the tracks is regulated by the number of frames included in the composition (“gluing”);

· it is possible to obtain static images by taking one frame from a series;

· this is an excellent option for editing video materials reflecting the movement of celestial bodies.

Note that the camera’s “Long Exposure Noise Reduction” function doubles the exposure time, this should be taken into account when shooting.

Obviously, the advantage remains with the second type of shooting. Let's dwell on its features. It is better to choose RAW format and save copies of photos in low quality, so that you can then quickly and easily view options for stitching a series of frames. As for shutter speeds, you again need to use the above-described “600” rule. The next step will be setting the exposure parameters, that is, ISO and aperture, then connecting and adjusting the release cable. It is better to set a minimum interval between frames, for example, one second. We also display the number of photos in the series. It is interesting to note that if this parameter is set to zero, the device will take pictures until it uses up the entire battery life.

Pole orientation

If the photographer wants to have rotation tracks as output, then the camera should be pointed at the North Star in the Northern Hemisphere or at Sigma Octanta in the Southern Hemisphere. Knowledge of astronomy will definitely not be superfluous.

The North Star will also help with orientation. It is always towards the north, and by how high it is located above the horizon, you can determine the latitude of the location.

As for the Southern Hemisphere, the only guiding star here is Sigma Octanta. But this star is unremarkable, it is difficult to distinguish it from others, so it is difficult to use as a reference point. To find the South Pole, you need to know the location of the Southern Cross.

Programs to help

1. First of all, let’s note the simplest program to use Startrails Version 1.1. Despite its simplicity, it is irreplaceable. The program is used to connect series of photographs, resulting in tracks, as described earlier. The only drawback is the nondescript design. All the user needs to do is use the “Open Images” function to select the photos needed for the layout (the format must be the same), then click “Startrails”, and the program will do everything itself. If you want to delete some frames, this can be easily done by unchecking the corresponding checkboxes in the panel on the left.

2. To calculate the place and time of dawn of both the Sun and the Moon, a program will be simply irreplaceable The Photographer's Ephemeris (TPE) . The program is compatible with different platforms and has a rather attractive design.

3. Programs and applications for smartphones. The most useful of them: Star Walk and SkyView (for iOS), Google Sky Map and Celeste SE (for Android). The program installed on your smartphone will help you easily calculate data on solar and lunar activity, taking into account real time and location. With the help of GPS, the issue of navigation can be easily resolved, of course, subject to network availability. What just recently seemed like science fiction and fiction, today are the necessary tools for creating photographic works.

NIKON D800E | NIKKOR 14-24 f2.8, 14 mm|f/3.5| 6750 sec.| ISO/Film 1600|Tripod

Photo: Lincoln Harrison

The article mentions only a small part of the programs that can significantly facilitate a photographer’s work and improve the quality of pictures. Everyone must individually select the functions they need that will be useful for achieving the desired result with a particular shooting method.

Any person who has seen professional photographs of the starry sky will agree that there is a certain magic or some kind of mystery in them. In fact, shooting at night and the technology for creating such amazing images is relatively simple. This article will provide detailed recommendations on how to achieve similar results. Having mastered them, night photography for beginning photographers will no longer be a problem.

What is needed for night photography and how to photograph at night correctly?

In order to be successful as a night photographer, you must have some equipment. First, you will need a stable tripod, a cable release or a remote control, and the camera must support “Bulb” mode (bulb or “perpetual shutter speed”). It’s worth worrying about simply useful things that can come in handy during a night photo session: warm clothes, a convenient flashlight, a thermos with strong coffee, etc.

What and how to photograph at night besides celestial objects?

In fact, a lot: the main thing is that there is an interesting foreground. This could be a large complex of structures, an abandoned dilapidated building, an old branchy tree, a radio tower or a bridge truss, and much more that has a pronounced silhouette against the background of the moon or starry sky. In some cases, to give the photo additional accents, foreground fragments can be illuminated with a flashlight.

Star Photography Basics

There are several ways that allow you to film the “movement of stars.” Here we will look at the very basics of how to take photographs with a DSLR at night, which are the same regardless of the equipment used (digital or analogue). Before you start setting up your camera, you should mount it on a tripod. If you have not purchased this device yet, then read the material about it on our website. After that. Once the camera is mounted, you will need to pre-frame the objects and set the focus.

How to set focus at night?

This is not so easy to do in complete darkness. It often happens that auto focus simply has nothing to grab onto. But this should not be a cause for concern. If you are shooting with the foreground, then it is enough to make sure that it is in focus. When using a wide-angle lens, even with the aperture wide open, the stars will most likely still be in focus. If difficulties arise with automatic focusing of foreground fragments, they should be illuminated with a flashlight, thereby making the task easier for the automatic focusing system. After the “focus” is captured, the lens must be set to (MF) so as not to accidentally lose the sharpness setting.

Composition and how to photograph stars

When composing the frame, you should exclude the presence of direct light sources, such as street lamps. It is recommended to take a test shot, which will tell you the best composition for the photo. The test can be done with a 2-3 minute exposure at high ISO and maximum aperture. As a rule, this is enough to evaluate the composition, determine the direction of movement of the stars and mentally model what the final frame should look like.

White balance and how to photograph the night sky

When shooting the night sky, it is recommended to set the white balance to “tungsten-tungsten”, which corresponds to a value of 2850 Kelvin. In this case, the photo will have a nice blue color with a deep orange tint to bright objects. Automatic white balance gives the sky an uncharacteristic brown color. To manipulate these parameters, you should carefully read the instructions for the camera.

White balance affects the entire image, so if the foreground is included in the frame, you should pay attention to the nature of its lighting and adjust the value of this parameter depending on your priorities. If you plan to further edit the image in a graphics editor, then it is better to take pictures.

One frame or several

For night photography, several options are possible: you can choose a scene and place everything in one frame, or you can shoot several frames and combine them with each other using software. It is believed that taking several images and then stitching them together gives a more pronounced quality effect.

Time-lapse photography

When shooting this way, one very big problem arises - the presence of noise. You can use a narrow aperture and low ISO to reduce noise, but with these settings you won't be able to capture many stars. But if you still use this technique, it is recommended to do the following:
— adjust focus and composition;
— set manual exposure mode;
— set the widest aperture;
— set ISO 200.
A test shot should be taken with a 30-minute exposure. If there is a lot of noise in the photo, then you should reduce the ISO, shutter speed, or try a narrower aperture.

Frame stitching

As mentioned earlier, the method of taking several frames and then “stitching them together” using computer programs gives the best results. A short exposure produces less noise, so you can shoot at a high ISO and wide aperture, which will ultimately capture many more stars than with a single shot.

When shooting this way, noise has a much smaller impact on image quality, but over time it begins to increase and manifests itself as an image defect. In general, even at ISO 800, sensor noise should not cause much concern.

To implement this method of shooting, you must use a cable or camera remote control.

The number of images can be in the hundreds, so you should worry about free space on the memory card in advance. To begin with, you should select ISO 800, set the widest aperture, shutter speed - 30 seconds, shooting mode - continuous (this mode is possible when the cable button is locked).

What software will you need?

Of the free options, it is recommended to use StarStaX. Unlike many other free analogues, this program works on both Windows, Linux and Mac. Its distinctive feature is the high speed of image processing. StarStaX is significantly faster than Photoshop and much easier, since you don't need to create individual photos to get started. It is enough to import the entire series into the program, start the gluing procedure and in a few seconds get the finished image.

Many people are attracted to this night star and are naturally interested in how to best photograph the moon. The best time to photograph the Moon is during twilight - just after sunset or before dawn. At this time, there is light in the sky, which creates interesting shades on the clouds and surroundings, which gives the image more atmosphere.

The moon can also be photographed late at night against a black sky. This is best done using a long lens. Sometimes our satellite is visible during the daytime. Then it is better to photograph it with the foreground, otherwise the Moon alone will look faded and inexpressive, although this depends more on the photographer’s imagination, so there are exceptions here.

By adopting these recommendations, a novice photographer will be able to create photographs of night landscapes that will delight not only family and friends: some of them will be able to compete with the leaders of photo forums.

Author profile

; Professional journalist, amateur to take a couple of shots, or direct a session

With a sky filled with thousands of stars, I immediately wanted to learn how to shoot the same way. I took the camera, went outside... and, naturally, I didn’t succeed the first time. I had to read a little and practice. But everything turned out to be much simpler than I thought. In my article I will give some simple tips that will help happy owners of DSLRs understand the issue. I’ll say right away that filming other galaxies and spectacular nebulae will not be described here: the technique of such filming is too complex.

What will you need?

By the way, we will not start with technology. For me, capturing some piece of the night sky is not an end in itself. This is an activity for an astronomer, not a photographer. Stars for me are a spectacular way to decorate a landscape. And landscape photography always begins with choosing a place and time. Over time, everything is very simple: you need a cloudless night. Summer or winter outside - the difference is not so great. Of course, in cold weather the matrix heats up less at long exposures, and there is less noise in the photographs. But the photographer freezes too quickly. As a result, I would not give priority to either summer or winter.

The location should not only look impressive, but also be as far as possible from towns and cities illuminated by lanterns. They create light in the sky, against which the stars are simply not visible. So it’s best to do such filming somewhere at a dacha in the suburbs, and ideally, go a hundred kilometers from civilization.

Now we come to the issue of technology. It's better if you have a DSLR. But you can achieve good results with a mirrorless camera, you just have to face the problems of focusing in the dark. Wide-angle optics are most often needed. I often use 14mm and 16mm lenses at full frame. But the kit lens that comes with your amateur camera is also quite suitable. What you definitely can’t do without is a tripod. Shutter speeds will be long and the camera needs to be held securely. A cable release would also be useful. Although for the first time you will be able to do without it. It is enough to use a shutter delay so that camera vibrations from touch have time to calm down by the time the shutter opens. Don't forget to dress for the weather, and also get a flashlight - the more powerful, the better. We charge the batteries and head out into the night...

Exposure parameters

This is where beginners have the most questions. Let's start with the simplest case - shooting a landscape on a cloudless moonlit night. We put the camera on a tripod, lower the ISO to 200 units (most often this is just enough). Try not to close the aperture too much, no stronger than f/4-f/5.6. And select the shutter speed in manual mode experimentally so that the brightness of the photo matches your creative idea. Warning: the shutter speed may be too long! If your camera cannot handle such a long shutter speed in manual mode (in some models the shutter speed is limited to 30 s), carefully increase the ISO.

Focusing

The next problem is focusing. At night, it is not automatically possible to focus on a dark sky. And in the viewfinder, most likely, nothing is visible at all. We do this: we find distant lights on the horizon (they are almost always and everywhere) and try to manually focus on them. You can take several control shots and, if necessary, adjust the focus. If the foreground appears in the frame (and what is a landscape without a foreground?), then it makes sense to focus on it, having previously illuminated it with a flashlight.

She's spinning!

In the stream of endless affairs and everyday worries, we often forget about such simple things as the rotation of the earth. The stars in the sky never stand in one place. They are constantly moving relative to the ground. Although every rule has its exceptions. The North Star still moves the least during the day. And approximately we can say that it stands still. And everyone else revolves around her. This is not visible at short shutter speeds, but at long shutter speeds it is clearly noticeable! If you want to get dotted stars in your photo, try to shoot at relatively short shutter speeds. If you want dashes instead of dots, increase the shutter speed.

"Rule of six hundred"

There is a rule of thumb that allows you to determine the shutter speed at which the stars in the frame, due to the rotation of the earth, will begin to turn from dots to dashes. It's called the "rule of six hundred." Divide the number 600 by the equivalent focal length of your lens and you will get the corresponding shutter speed length in seconds. For a 16mm fisheye, for example, you can use shutter speeds up to 37s. And for a kit lens with a wide-angle position of 18 mm, it is better not to exceed a value of 20 s.

When it's completely dark

In some cases, we manage to move away from civilization to such a distance that the light of its cities is not visible in the sky at all. In this case, we have a chance to capture the spectacular Milky Way. Feel free to set the maximum allowable shutter speed, open the aperture a little wider and try increasing the ISO. Where the human eye saw just a dark sky, the camera sees much more!

Adding light

Have you forgotten about the flashlight yet? You can use it to highlight foreground details. You can use colored filters to achieve multi-colored lighting.

Star Tracks

Just above I wrote that with a long shutter speed you can capture the movement of stars. What if the shutter speed is very long? In fact, this will cause many problems: from overheating of the matrix to the need to close the aperture too much. And if you want to film the movement of stars across the sky, it is better to take several dozen frames from one place with a shutter speed of about 15-30 seconds, and then stitch them together automatically into one picture using a simple and free program Startrails.